#iceman flying seaplanes

[thatsrightice]

They’re inaccurate, trust me I know. But the medals the aviators in Top Gun wear are cool and have meanings and map out a person’s military career.

Many caught my eye, but one in particular had me thinking, the Humanitarian Service Medal. In my research I found a table of approved operations for the HSM award put together by the government. That means he would have had to participate in and assist in one of the operations on the list. On the list I searched for one that caught my eye from the late 70s to early 80s, prior to Top Gun where Iceman and the others are seen wearing them, and one stood out.

Hurricane Iwa Relief 1982 (Hawai’i, US)

Hurricane Iwa was one of if not the worst hurricane Hawai’i had experienced up to that point in terms of damage. It also happened to be the “first hurricane to hit Hawaii in 23 years” according to The New York Times.

It was the final storm of hurricane season, occurring just before Thanksgiving on November 25, 1982 with winds of up to 110 mph. There were widespread power outages across several of the islands and very few structures had flashlights or candles, let alone backup generators.

Ignoring the timeline of their careers in terms of specific years because it doesn't make sense to begin with, I'm picturing Iceman, Cougar, Goose, and Slider at the Academy or Flight School having just seen the news of the hurricane on the TV in a common space. Ice is in total shock because he and many others he grew up with all believed the islands couldn't be touched by hurricanes. There certainly hadn't been any hurricanes while he'd lived there and there hadn’t been any ever longer before then. Hawai'i was the one place that felt like home and Ice was watching his home be destroyed by Hurricane Iwa.

He decided right then and there that he had to do something, and because all of staff liked him he was able to get the day before Thanksgiving off. But his friends knew that Hawai’i was important to him, maybe not aware of just how important but they knew it was the only place he talked about fondly, the only place he’d share memories and stories from with a smile.

He never asked for them to come with him and miss their own Thanksgivings but they had hearts of gold. Nick volunteered first, his caring soul had seemingly infinite amount of kindness and compassion for helping others. Bill and Tom were close, like brothers, so of course Bill was going to go with. And Ron shared a bond with Tom, knowing how important it was to have a stable home.

And so they all flew out to the west coast and caught a ride to the island on a seaplane Tom’s friend typically used to fly around tourists but was now using to bring much needed supplies to those who need it. It now made sense why Tom had experience flying seaplanes. They met up with some of his old friends and helped out where they could, reuniting people who had been separated from their loved ones, delivering supplies, etc.

They couldn’t fix everything in those couple of days, the residents would be clearing debris for months following, but Tom would never forget all that they had done for him that week. And despite the devastating nature of the event, that Thanksgiving would go down as one of Tom’s favorites, surrounded by friends and friends he considered closer than family.